Soldiers loyal to democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara return from fighting to a checkpoint serving as an operating base, at one of the main entrances to Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Wednesday, April 6. (AP Photo)
ABIDJAN, April 6 (Reuters): Forces loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara stormed the bunker where Laurent Gbagbo was defying efforts to force him to cede power on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Ouattara told Reuters.
"They are in the process of entering the residence to seize Gbagbo," Affousy Bamba told Reuters. "They have not taken him yet, but they are in the process." France, the former colonial power, said fighting was under way around Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan but that French troops in the city were not involved.
A witness confirmed fighting around the residence, where Gbagbo has been holed up since Ouattara's forces swept into Abidjan backed by helicopter strikes by the United Nations and France.
"I have seen from my building the FRCI fighters (Ouattara forces) in pick-ups and 4x4 jeeps rushing toward Gbagbo's residence, weapons in their hands," Alfred Kouassi, who lives nearby, told Reuters. "We can hear automatic gunfire and also the thud of heavy weapons."
A French government source said that fighting began after Gbagbo, who has ruled the West African country since 2000 but according to U.N.-certified results lost an election to Ouattara last November, showed he was unwilling to negotiate with mediators trying to persuade him to leave. "He is not sincere in his willingness to negotiate his departure," the source said.
Negotiations to persuade Gbagbo to quit stalled early on Wednesday as he resisted pressure from the United Nations and France to sign a document renouncing his claim to power.
"If Gbagbo has refused to sign the documents they (UN and France) presented to him yesterday, it is because they proposed something that had no legal and judicial basis," Gbagbo's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello told Reuters on Wednesday.
A defiant Gbagbo had earlier denied reports he was ready to surrender after a fierce assault by forces loyal to Ouattara, whose victory in November's presidential election Gbagbo refused to accept. "We are not at the negotiating stage. And my departure from where? To go where?" Gbagbo told French radio RFI on Wednesday.
He said he was with his family at the residence in Abidjan's upmarket Cocody neighborhood.
"NOT LOOKING FOR DEATH"
Gbagbo had told French television channel LCI his army had only called for a ceasefire after its weaponry was destroyed by French and U.N. air strikes on Monday. He had suggested direct talks with Ouattara, an offer that was not accepted.
"I'm not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I'm not looking for death. It's not my aim to die," Gbagbo, told the channel by telephone.
"For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us have to talk," he added. Ouattara's forces had been ordered not to kill Gbagbo. "Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice," Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi told Reuters.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the only thing left to discuss with Gbagbo was his departure, while French armed forces chief said Gbagbo could surrender within hours after negotiations dragged overnight. "They continued through the night but unfortunately I see no breakthrough for now," armed forces chief Edouard Guillaud told Europe 1 radio. "Despite that, I believe it is a matter of hours, possibly during the day."
France's intervention in its former colony has infuriated Gbagbo, who blames Paris for supporting the north of the country in the civil war of 2002-03, and it comes at a tense time for French diplomacy after President Nicolas Sarkozy's spearheading of the West's military response to the crisis in Libya.
"We accuse France of seeking to assassinate president Gbagbo. President (Nicolas) Sarkozy is organizing the assassination of President Gbagbo," Gbagbo's spokesman in Paris, Toussaint Alain, told Reuters. Last year's long-delayed election in the world's top cocoa producing nation was meant to draw a line under the civil war, but Gbagbo's refusal to cede power has plunged the country into violence that has killed more than 1,500 people.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Tuesday he was in talks with West African states about referring alleged atrocities in the Ivory Coast to the court after a reported massacre in the west of the country. Over the past week, forces loyal to Ouattara launched a major assault on Gbagbo's last strongholds in Abidjan, driving home their campaign to oust him.
Cocoa prices rose slightly on Tuesday as Gbagbo's reluctance to step down dimmed hopes for a swift resumption of exports. The country's defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobond rose to a four-month high on Wednesday on raised expectations of repayment.
"They are in the process of entering the residence to seize Gbagbo," Affousy Bamba told Reuters. "They have not taken him yet, but they are in the process." France, the former colonial power, said fighting was under way around Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan but that French troops in the city were not involved.
A witness confirmed fighting around the residence, where Gbagbo has been holed up since Ouattara's forces swept into Abidjan backed by helicopter strikes by the United Nations and France.
"I have seen from my building the FRCI fighters (Ouattara forces) in pick-ups and 4x4 jeeps rushing toward Gbagbo's residence, weapons in their hands," Alfred Kouassi, who lives nearby, told Reuters. "We can hear automatic gunfire and also the thud of heavy weapons."
A French government source said that fighting began after Gbagbo, who has ruled the West African country since 2000 but according to U.N.-certified results lost an election to Ouattara last November, showed he was unwilling to negotiate with mediators trying to persuade him to leave. "He is not sincere in his willingness to negotiate his departure," the source said.
Negotiations to persuade Gbagbo to quit stalled early on Wednesday as he resisted pressure from the United Nations and France to sign a document renouncing his claim to power.
"If Gbagbo has refused to sign the documents they (UN and France) presented to him yesterday, it is because they proposed something that had no legal and judicial basis," Gbagbo's spokesman Ahoua Don Mello told Reuters on Wednesday.
A defiant Gbagbo had earlier denied reports he was ready to surrender after a fierce assault by forces loyal to Ouattara, whose victory in November's presidential election Gbagbo refused to accept. "We are not at the negotiating stage. And my departure from where? To go where?" Gbagbo told French radio RFI on Wednesday.
He said he was with his family at the residence in Abidjan's upmarket Cocody neighborhood.
"NOT LOOKING FOR DEATH"
Gbagbo had told French television channel LCI his army had only called for a ceasefire after its weaponry was destroyed by French and U.N. air strikes on Monday. He had suggested direct talks with Ouattara, an offer that was not accepted.
"I'm not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I'm not looking for death. It's not my aim to die," Gbagbo, told the channel by telephone.
"For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us have to talk," he added. Ouattara's forces had been ordered not to kill Gbagbo. "Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice," Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi told Reuters.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the only thing left to discuss with Gbagbo was his departure, while French armed forces chief said Gbagbo could surrender within hours after negotiations dragged overnight. "They continued through the night but unfortunately I see no breakthrough for now," armed forces chief Edouard Guillaud told Europe 1 radio. "Despite that, I believe it is a matter of hours, possibly during the day."
France's intervention in its former colony has infuriated Gbagbo, who blames Paris for supporting the north of the country in the civil war of 2002-03, and it comes at a tense time for French diplomacy after President Nicolas Sarkozy's spearheading of the West's military response to the crisis in Libya.
"We accuse France of seeking to assassinate president Gbagbo. President (Nicolas) Sarkozy is organizing the assassination of President Gbagbo," Gbagbo's spokesman in Paris, Toussaint Alain, told Reuters. Last year's long-delayed election in the world's top cocoa producing nation was meant to draw a line under the civil war, but Gbagbo's refusal to cede power has plunged the country into violence that has killed more than 1,500 people.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Tuesday he was in talks with West African states about referring alleged atrocities in the Ivory Coast to the court after a reported massacre in the west of the country. Over the past week, forces loyal to Ouattara launched a major assault on Gbagbo's last strongholds in Abidjan, driving home their campaign to oust him.
Cocoa prices rose slightly on Tuesday as Gbagbo's reluctance to step down dimmed hopes for a swift resumption of exports. The country's defaulted $2.3 billion Eurobond rose to a four-month high on Wednesday on raised expectations of repayment.
